You don't usually think of Superman needing saving. But a campaign has just been launched for a rescue mission of sorts -- to save the house where Superman was born.

"When I saw that the house where Superman was created was in disrepair, it just seemed wrong," Brad Meltzer said. "The house where Google was created is saved. The farm where Hewlett Packard was founded is preserved. The Superman house deserves the same respect." (See exclusive art from the auction after the jump!)

Meltzer discovered that the condition of the boyhood home of Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel in Cleveland was in poor shape when he was researching his "Book of Lies" and that Joe Shuster's house a few blocks away had already been torn down. The current occupants of Siegel's home, a couple who have lived there for twenty years, don't have the money needed for repairs to prevent the same fate, so Meltzer decided to do something about it.

Along with the Siegel and Shuster Society, the author has organized a celebrity charity auction to raise the funds for the restoration costs. Superman fans can bid for original artwork, rare scripts, naming rights in upcoming comics and books, an appearance on "Heroes," and other collectibles, thanks to the contributions of Neil Gaiman, Stephen Colbert, Brian Michael Bendis, Geoff Johns, Dave Gibbons, Mike Mignola, Jim Lee, Tim Sale, Jeph Loeb, Ed Brubaker, and more. The family of Jerry Siegel is also offering a Superman T-shirt that Siegel signed before his death. The auction begins on September 2 at midnight and will run through September 30.

The first $50,000 raised is earmarked for protecting the exterior of the house -- securing the roof, protecting the paint from rotting, and concrete work. Any money raised afterwards will repair the inside of the house, so that tourists could see the drawings on the walls. In return for repairing and restoring the landmark, the current residents are giving the Siegel and Shuster Society the right to buy the house when it eventually goes up for sale.

"I think sometimes people take things like this for granted because it started in cartoon form," Brian Michael Bendis said. "There is no difference, to me, between this house and Mark Twain's house. We have to honor and exalt such creation."

Do you think the house where Superman was created should be a tourist destination? Would you go see it, if it was repaired? Will you support the costs by buying one of the auction offerings? How has Superman enriched your life?